Tottenham Hotspur are interested in a deal to bring Morten Frendrup to the Premier League at the end of the current campaign.
What's the talk?
That's according to a report by Italian media outlet Serie B News (via Sport Witness), who claim that Fabio Paratici is already putting together his transfer plans for the summer window in 2023, with the sporting director believed to be targeting a number of high potential players to add to Antonio Conte's first team squad.
One such player is believed to be Frendrup, the 21-year-old Genoa midfielder who is said to have caught Paratici's eye following his move from Bröndby IF back in January of this year, with the Italian thought to be considering a swoop for the Denmark U21 international at the end of the season.
Conte's next Kante
While defensive midfield is not exactly a position in which Conte is currently short of options - with the Italian boasting the likes of Oliver Skipp, Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr in his first team squad - considering just how exciting a talent Frendrup appears to be, it is not difficult to see why Paratici would be keen on a move.
Indeed, despite Genoa's relegation from the top flight of Italian football last season, the £5.7m-rated starlet nevertheless impressed over his ten Serie A appearances in 2021/22, making an average of 4.0 tackles - the most of any player in the division - 1.7 interceptions and winning 5.9 duels - at a success rate of 60% - per game.
These returns saw the Denmark U21 international average a simply sensational SofaScore match rating of 7.02, ranking him as the Rossoblù's joint-best performer in the league last time out - a rather remarkable feat for his debut campaign in Italy.
It has been a similar story for the £7.9k-per-week sensation over his 13 Serie B fixtures in the current campaign, with the 21-year-old hitting the back of the net once, in addition to making an average of 3.2 tackles - the joint fourth-most in the league - 1.2 interceptions and winning 4.7 duels per outing.
These metrics have seen the midfielder average an extremely impressive SofaScore match rating of 6.98, currently ranking him as Alexander Blessin's sixth-best performer in the second tier of Italian football.
Furthermore, with Jacek Kulig dubbing the 21-year-old a "midfield destroyer" and listing his strengths as his "pace, passing, athleticism, positioning, tenacity, tackling, maturity and work rate", it is easy to see why the self-professed Football Talent Scout also compared Frendrup to Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kanté, writing of the youngster on his website:
"Morten Frendrup reminds me of N'Golo Kanté. Big comparison, I know, but they share some of the same traits. They are both not the biggest and most intimidating midfielders, but they are both fast, great at reading the game, and they intercept almost everything.
"Both players are also good dribblers of the ball, and Kanté has evolved into a well-rounded midfielder with offensive abilities, which also could become the case with Frendrup."
As such, should Paratici be successful in his courting of the Danish sensation next summer, not only would it appear as if the Spurs sporting director will have landed an extremely talented and exciting young player, but he could also have unearthed Conte's next Kanté at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - something that is undoubtedly an extremely tantalising prospect.